Warning guard for saws



Nov, 8, 1949 T. SUMMERS 2,487,396

WARNING GUARD FOR SAWS Filed Jan. 19, 1948 \nc I N VEN TOR.

7/760 da/v Jam/77am Patented Nov. 8, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2;487,396 WARNING GUARD FOR SAWS Theodore Summers, Kalarn'atoo, Mich. Application January 19, 1948, Serial No. 3,111

10 Claims.

This 4 invention relates to improvements in warning guard for saws and like rotary cutters.

The principal objects of this invention are:

First, to provide a device for Warning the operator of a power driven cutter when his hands reach a given proximity to the cutter.

Second, to provide a warning device to strike the hands of a person operating a cutter to indicate to the operator that his hands are in danger of engaging the cutter.

Third, to provide a warning guard of the type described which is easily attachable to a power driven machine and which does not interfere with the normal operation of the machine.

Fourth, to provide a mounting for a Warning guard which is easily adjustable and automatically swingable into operative position should the operator forget to adjust the guard after making adjustments of his saw.

Other objects and advantages pertaining to details and economies of my warning, guard will be apparent from a consideration of the following description and claims. The drawings, of which there is one sheet, illustrate a preferred form of my warning guard as applied to a table saw.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of my guard in operative position. a

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of my guard as mounted on the table of a power driven table saw.

The drawings illustrate a conventional form of a circular sawhaving a table I and blade 2, the blade being driven by an electric motor, a portion of which is illustrated at 3 in Fig. 1.

My guard consists of a small electric motor 4 having a forwardly extending shaft 5 on which is mounted a warning guard consisting of a plurality of radially extending blades 6. The blades 6 are formed of flexible or semi rigid material such as rubber or plastic, and are arranged to assume a generally radial position as shown in Fig. 2 when rotated by the motor 4.

The motor 4 is supported from a coupling l by the straps 8 and the couplingl is adjustably ,secured to the down turned end of the hollow rod 9 by the set screw Ill. The horizontal portion of the rod 9 is telescopically received within the horizontal reach of an angular tubular support I l and adjustably secured therein by the set screw l2. The vertical reach of the support tube II is rotatably received in the boss M of a bracket l5 bolted to the side of the table I. A collar I6 is adjustably clamped to the support tube :by a set screw I! to adjust the level of the support tube and the motor 4 above the saw table. It will be noted that the meeting faces of the collar It and boss l4 are beveled as at 18 so that the support and inotor will swing by gravity to the operative position illustrated in the event the support and motor are temporarily swung away from the blade of the saw as for adjusting the position of the fence I9 on the saw, A locking screw 20 is pro video on the boss 14 for clamping the support tube in operative position if it is desired to pre vent rotation of the support and motor. I

Preferably. the guard motor 4 is connected by the electrical cable 2| tothe saw motor 3 to one'late therewith, the cable 2| being threaded through the tubular support It and rod 9. I

As will be apparent, my warning guard may be attached to any saw table and adjusted so that the blades 6 will rotate in a plane just forwardlt of the blade of the saw and just over the work piece indicated at 22, whic'h is being sawed. The blades 6 will rotate at all times when the saw motor i runni g, and should the operators at tention be distracted for any reason and his hands approach th saw plane as illustrated in Fig.1, the warning blades 6 will sla his fingers, forcibly-drawing the operators attention to the fact that his hands are ap roachin the dan er area around the saw blade. The flexible charac= ter f theblades prevents injury to the operators fingers and the guard blades do not materiaily obstruct the operators vision of the work piece and saw blade due to the rapidly rotating motion of the guard blades. If the guar blades aren'iade of clear plastic, the obstruction to vision of the operator is further reduced. I

My warning guard is particularly useful in schools where inexperienced children are being taught the use of power tools and are liable to be inattentive to their operation of saws and the like. While I have illustrated my warning guard as applied to a circular table saw, it may beap= plied to equal advantage to other power driven machines such as band saws, Planers and metal working machines.

I have thus disclosed a highly practical embodiment or m Warning guard so that others Patent, is:

1. The combination with a power driven table saw having a saw blade, motor and a tab1e, a warning guard comprising a bracket secured to said table and havin a vertically apertured boss, an angled support tube having its lower end received in said boss, a collar adjustably secured to said support tube and engageable with said boss to adjust the level of said support tube, said collar and boss having beveled meeting surfaces,

a rod telescopically and adjustably secured to the upper end of said support tube and having a down turned outer end, a coupling member rotatably and adjustably secured to the down turned end of said rod and having opposed strap portions extending therefrom, a guard motor clamped between said strap portions and adapted to be positioned above and to the front of said blade, a plurality of radially extending guard blades secured to the shaft of said guard motor, said guard blades being formed of soft flexible material, and an electrical conductor extending from said guard motor through said rod and tube to said saw motor to be energized with said saw motor.

2. The combination with a power driven table saw having a saw blade, motor and a table, a warning guard comprising a bracket secured to said table and having a vertically apertured boss, an angled support tube having its lower end received in said boss, a collar adjustably secured to said support tube and engageable with said boss to adjust the level of said support tube, a rod telescopically and adjustably secured to the upper end of said support tube, a coupling member rotatably and adjustably secured to said rod and having opposed strap portions extending therefrom, a guard motor clamped between said strap portions and adapted to be positioned above and to the front of said blade, a plurality of radially extending guard blades secured to the shaft of said guard motor, said guard blades being formed of flexible material, and an electrical conductor extending from said guard motor to be energized with said saw motor.

. 3. The combination with a power driven table saw having a saw blade, motor and a table, a warning guard comprising a bracket secured to said table, an angled support tube having its lower end received in said bracket, a collar adjustably secured to said support tube and engageable with said bracket to adjust the level of said support tube, a rod telescopically and adjustably secured to the upper end of said support tube, a coupling member rotatably and adjustably secured to the end of said rod, a guard motor secured to said coupling member and adapted to be positioned above and to the front of said blade, a plurality of radially extending guard blades secured to the shaft of said guard motor, said guard blades being formed of flexible material, and means for energizing said guard motor, concurrently with said saw motor.

4. The combination with a power driven table saw having a saw blade, motor and a table, a warning guard comprising a bracket secured to said table, an angled support having its lower end received in said bracket, a collar adjustably secured to said support tube and engageable with said bracket to adjust the level of said support tube, a rod telescopically and adjustably secured 1 to the upper end of said support tube, a coupling member secured to the end of said rod, a guard motor secured to said coupling member and adapted to be positioned above and to the front of said blade, a plurality of radially extending guard blades secured to the shaft of said guard motor, said guard blades being formed of flexible material, and means for energizing said guard motor concurrently with said 'saw motor.

5. The combination with a power driven table saw having a saw blade, motor and a table, a warning guard comprising an angled support tube having its lower end adjustably secured to said table, a guard motor supported on the upper end of said tube and adapted to be positioned above and to the front of said blade, a plurality of radially extending guard blades secured to the shaft of said motor, said guard blades being formed of flexible material, and an electrical conductor for energizing said guard motor.

6. A guard for a machine having a power driven cutting element comprising a driven shaft, a plurality of flexible guard blades secured to the shaft, and adjustable means for supporting said shaft, whereby said guard blades will rotate in a plane just forwardly of said cutting element and in the path of approach of the operators hands to said cutting element, said shaft being connected to operate concurrently with said cutting element.

7. A guard for a machine having a driven cutting element comprising a driven shaft, a plurality of flexible guard blades secured to the shaft, and adjustable means for supporting said shaft, whereby said guard blades will rotate in a plane forwardly of and adjacent to said cutting element and .in the path of approach of the operators hands towards said cutting element, said means being arranged to swing said shaft by'gravity to operative position.

8. A guard for a machinehaving a driven cutting element comprising a guard motor, a plurality of flexible guard blades secured to the shaft of said guard motor, and adjustable means for supporting said guard motor, whereby said guard blades will rotate in a plane forwardly of said cutting element and in the path of approach of the operators hands to said cutting element.

9. A guard for a machine having a driven cutting element comprising a driven shaft, a plurality of flexible guard blades secured to the shaft, and adjustable means for supporting said shaft, whereby said guard blades will rotate in a plane forwardly of said cutting element and in the path of approach of the operators hands to said cutting element.

10. A warning guard for a machine having a driven rotating cutting element comprising a driven shaft, a plurality of radially extending flexible blade elements on said shaft, said shaft being arranged to rotate the blade elements in a plane in front of and transversely of the plane of rotation of the cutting element and across the path of approach of the operators hands to said cutting element.

THEODORE SUMMERS.

REFERENCES CITED I The following references are of record in the, 

